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Clip description
After watching a newsreel of Lionel Rose, Ed (Xavier Samuel) and Paddy (Clarence John Ryan) build their own boxing ring in the wheat stubble, using old fencing materials. With only one pair of gloves, they take one each and spar until the sun goes down.
Curator’s notes
The film has a beautiful, haunting score by Roger Mason that’s partly influenced by the Estonian composer Arvo Part. It’s very spare, almost dream-like, using all sorts of sounds and instruments to match the haunting beauty of the stark landscape. Peter Carstairs has said he is a great admirer of the maverick American director Terrence Malick, and there’s a clear influence in the way Carstairs chose a very minimal landscape, without trees. Malick used a similar landscape in his landmark 1978 film Days of Heaven. The scene depicts almost without dialogue the great bond between the two boys.
